


around the sun

by jillyfae



Series: live by love: codas & interludes [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Dancing, Fluff, Kissing in the Rain, Literal & Metaphorical, M/M, Post-Episode: s02e20 Beside Still Water, Reunion Sex, Semi-Public Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 07:11:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12954042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae
Summary: Reunions and homecomings; an epilogue that continues the final scene for Magnus and Alec inBeside Still Water





	around the sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pseudofoucault333](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pseudofoucault333/gifts).



> _Hold onto this boy a little longer_   
>  _Take another trip around the sun_   
> 
>
>> Around the Sun -- R.E.M.

Alec couldn't stop smiling. Not that there was any reason to try; it was just the two of them, _at last,_ side-by-side, step-by-step, until it sounded like only one person walking down the street. Their boots hit the concrete at the same time as they moved until a slight syncopation, an almost stutter in Magnus' pace at the corner, like he wasn't sure which way they were going to turn.

As if there was any question.

Alec stepped sideways, leading just a little, heading towards the loft until the soft pressure of Magnus' hand fell away from the small of his back. He felt cold for just a breath, despite the weight of his coat, but it was worth it, worth it to finally be where he belonged. "Let's go home."

He had to stop as Magnus smiled at him, the ache in his chest rising up through his throat, the burn in his eyes too much. It hurt a little, every time, how _surprised_ Magnus looked, soft and delighted but still almost doubting. Alec wished he could wipe away every mistake he'd ever made, every sharp word in Magnus' past, so he was never so startled by kindness.

They started again, almost back in step, until Magnus' shoulder bumped against Alec's, a hint of a smile tilting his mouth up when Alec glanced over at him. He slid down the street with a half a step sideways and a turn in his hips. It was beautiful, the reflection shimmering beneath his feet, the bright lights from all the signs chasing his shadow.

Magnus was always beautiful, and now, tonight, that thought didn't hurt as it had this afternoon, this morning, yesterday, _it had felt like forever_...

Magnus stood still, holding out his hand, his head cocked to the side.

Alec stared at Magnus' hand. Glanced up at his face, his smile almost sharp, his eyes soft. Looked back at his hand, the curl of his fingers, the way the light shone against the polish, felt the pull in his chest, coaxing him closer, always closer, always towards Magnus. Put his own hand out, let their fingers meet, felt almost breathless at the touch, soft and simple as it was.

"Dance with me, Alexander," Magnus tugged, just a little, and Alec almost stumbled, took an awkward step forward instead.

"In the middle of the street?"

"Afraid of an audience? We're glamored." Magnus' free hand gestured behind them, fingers spread and rings glinting, "and everyone you know who'd care to see through it is still at the Hunter's Moon."

"There's no music?" Only there was, the beat of his heart and the buzz of the lights and the wind against the buildings and the low hum of traffic a few streets away and water pooling and draining away around them. "I haven't really ever, I don't --"

"What happened to my graceful Shadowhunter?" Magnus' eyebrow lifted, and his chin seemed to point their way forward.

"He never bothered learning how to dance." Alec shuffled another step as Magnus moved, followed inexorably, caught in Magnus' wake as his walk shifted into something else, something more, each curve of his back and turn of his head both eloquent and mysterious, speaking a language Alec didn't know, had never before realized he'd failed to learn. "More fool him."

"Never a fool." Magnus stepped closer, close enough to lift a hand and run his fingers down Alec's jaw. Magnus smiled, soft and warm, the shine in his eyes brighter than anything Alec could ever deserve. Alec's chest ached and it hurt to smile and it would have hurt more to stop. "And it's never too late to learn."

Magnus glided back, _away_ , hands slipping free from Alec's grasp as he turned around himself, arms lifting and each step graceful. He flowed down the street, looking like he would at any moment take flight, weightless and perfect through the damp air around them.

Alec needed a better word than beautiful to describe him.

This time, Magnus' pose was entirely different when he stood still, a wink over his shoulder and toes pointed as he reached a hand back to Alec. "I promise to be gentle."

Alec smiled, felt the laugh lifting from his chest try to turn into a groan in his throat. He was happy to reach out and hold Magnus' hand, delighted to feel Magnus tug him along again, pleased that he managed a much steadier step this time. It was easy to watch Magnus as they moved, to follow each shift of weight, each subtle pull or push from his hand, but it was hard not to stare at his own feet as he did, sure every moment he was about to trip over a gutter or a curb or his own too-heavy boots.

The rain was sprinkling and lights were shining and Alec laughed whenever he stepped wrong, a clumsy shadow to Magnus' sharp grace. His laughed faded, too breathless to hold onto whenever Magnus slid close, _closer_ , a fleeting brush of his hands against Alec's face or shoulders, their chests almost touching before he stepped back, stretched out as far as their arms would reach. He danced away with a sharp feint sideways or an entirely too intriguing twist of his hips or some improbable shift of weight that seemed to make the neon shimmers in the air part around him as he cut through the air. Still Alec followed, turning wide around Magnus' neat spins, pulled in by his smile, his eyes, the line of his shoulders as he slipped between the raindrops.

It was only when the door to the building was around the corner, only when the rain blew over them and then blew out, that Alec finally caught him. Magnus paused, Alec's hands wrapped around his, and it was Alec's turn to tug him closer, to smile as Magnus followed, to let his smile fade as he kissed him.

It was different than that first reunion kiss, that one full of joy, relief, hope. There was tension now, awareness of the puff of breath between them, the heat of skin, the warmth of muscles loose and ready for more.

_More._

Alec could feel the tremble in his arms as he held Magnus close, as he kissed him, _kissed him,_ kissed him. He pressed as close as he could, bodies together and breath together and he couldn't tell if the thunder in his chest was Magnus' heartbeat or his own.

_I missed you._

Magnus' hands burned against the back of his neck, his fingers catching and pulling in Alec's hair as his grip tightened. Alec lost what little grace his feet had found wandering across the city, stumbling back and pulling Magnus with him. He staggered until he felt the rough edges of old bricks against his shoulders, until he felt the light across his eyelids dim as they were claimed by shadows, and the groan in his throat was back, heavy and burning.

_I couldn't bear losing you._

There were almost there. He literally only had to walk around the corner and they could be _home,_ they could be together behind closed doors and there was a bedroom and _a bed_ and... He couldn't make himself stop, not even for that, couldn't lift his head or let his mouth slip away from their kiss. He only managed to loosen his grip on Magnus' jacket in order to slide his hands beneath it, to feel the curve of his ribs through his shirt, to feel the warmth of him close, _closer._

Even that wasn't enough.

Alec gripped and pulled, folds of shirt caught between his fingers as he lifted it enough to slide his hands beneath it, to feel Magnus' skin against his palms, to feel the way his body almost shivered at the contact.

_I can't stand who I am without you._

Alec could feel Magnus' thumb against his throat, the curl of Magnus' fingers against his neck, the _pull_ , tension in Magnus' arms, the tilt of his chin to kiss Alec harder, and he couldn't, _he couldn't._ Magnus' skin was beneath his palms and Magnus' mouth was against his and it wasn't enough, it would never be enough. They pressed together so hard he could feel the straps of Magnus' clothes caught between them, and still they were both holding tight, pulling tighter. He couldn't stop the roll of his hips, desperate to rub, to _feel,_ desperate for more, couldn't stop the shudder of his breath and the ache in his chest.

_I never want to be that man again._

Magnus pulled on Alec's hair, lifted his chin and pulled back, and Alec heard his breath almost whimper before he managed to focus, to meet Magnus' eyes. Magnus' hand shifted, palm pressed to Alec's temple, and his lips parted as if he was about to speak, but something shifted in his face, in his shoulders, everything softer somehow, and first he swallowed, and smiled. "Are you sure?"

"Of what?"

A car drove by a block away, just close enough the reflection of light slipped across Magnus' face, just enough to show the lift of his eyebrows, the crinkle of a smile beside his eyes. "In an alley?"

"Glamored, remember?" Alec smiled back, though it was hard to hold, the breathless knot that he'd been carrying between his ribs ever since he thought he'd lost Magnus was still there, looser, unraveling, but not quite gone, not yet. He could hear the tension still in his own voice. "I want to."

_I want you._

Magnus' fingertips traced a curve along Alec's cheek, his thumb dragged briefly against Alec's mouth, the slightest sharp-edged pull from the nail. Alec's lips parted on a warm shuddering sigh as Magnus nodded. Alec leaned in to kiss him again, breath warm between their mouths before their lips met, and everything was still, everything warm, the last tight edges of his worry gone, gone. The only tension left was the too-fast beat of his heart and the too-tight grip of his hands.

The sharp aborted lift of Magnus' hips as Alec's thigh pressed against him was the first almost-awkward motion Alec had ever felt Magnus make. His heart stuttered like an echo; he felt the jerk in his breath, in his spine, all the way to the throb in his cock.

_I need you._

Alec couldn't think, could only feel, sharp jagged disconnected images caught between each breath, each kiss. There was the catch of clothes on nails as they desperately pushed them out of the way, the rough scrape of the bricks through his shirt, against his back, the jump of muscles against his fingers as he trailed them across Magnus' stomach, the perfect curve of Magnus' back as Alec's fingers reached his hips, the tug of cloth and belts, the shift of moving lights and cool damp air against hot skin. Everything was heat and sweat and salt on his tongue and pressure building. More, always more.

_I love you._

He loved Magnus' cologne. He loved the jump of his adam's apple when Alec licked the line of his jaw, loved the sound of Magnus' breath caught in his throat. He loved the sounds of their bodies pressing and sliding and feeling the catch of skin against skin. He loved the memory of Magnus' cock in his hands, the phantom weight in his palm lingering even after he'd let go to pull Magnus' mouth back to his own, kissing him again as his hips rolled and their cocks rubbed, and Magnus' hand dropped between them to hold them together, following each push of their hips back and forth, _back and forth._

Alec couldn't stop talking, whispering into the curve of Magnus' neck, the taut line of his shoulder. _More, yes, I missed you, I needed you, I need you, I want you, please, yes, oh God, Magnus._ It seared, white hot beneath his skin, behind his eyes, relief and release and redemption; scraped shoulders and a hot sweaty mess in an alley a half a dozen steps from a door. He couldn't steady his lungs, his heart, each breath was heavy and ragged against Magnus' shoulder, his heartbeat still too hard, too uneven. He almost whined in his throat at the gentle touch of Magnus' fingers, almost cool against Alec's cock as he put them both back into their trousers.

Alec sighed, long and deep, until the shiver in his chest was gone, until the world seemed steady. He kissed Magnus again, again, smiling as he traced a soft path along his neck, and he could feel the shift in Magnus' throat as he laughed, soft and warm. "How do you always manage to surprise me?"

Alec lifted his head, let his thumb rest against the warm line of skin he'd had to let his mouth abandon. "A good surprise this time, I hope?"

"They almost always are." Magnus's hand rested against Alec's cheek, and Alec wanted to close his eyes and lean into the touch, never wanted to close his eyes and miss looking at Magnus for as long as possible. Magnus' hair was only slightly mussed, his make-up barely smudged, and Alec didn't know how he did it; Alec was sure he looked a disaster. Not that he cared, not now, not when they were still so close he could feel the warmth of Magnus' body all along his own.

"Almost." Alec made himself say, made himself swallow. "I'm so-"

"Shhh." Magnus put his finger against Alec's mouth, and Alec kissed it, just to see Magnus smile again, even as he shook his head and let his hand slide down. "I know."

"I love you."

There was Alec's favorite smile again, the one he loved and hated in equal measure, so soft, so happy, still so damned surprised. "I know that too."

"Do you?" He supposed some of the surprise was his fault, now, after what he'd done. _I have to do better. I have to_ be _better._

Magnus blinked, his smile shifting as the surprise over-powered everything else. "Of course I do."

"Good." Alec kissed him, it had been too long since he'd kissed him, since he held his face and felt Magnus' jaw shift against his palms as Magnus kissed him back.

Until he startled at a cold drip of water sliding down past his collar, and as Magnus jerked away it was his turn to start laughing, soft and helpless, as he realized what they probably looked like, rumpled clothes and flushed skin and the slap of a belt against his thigh as the rain started to blow past again.

"Home?" Magnus offered, with only the slightest sardonic edge to his voice. "Your shirt is a lost cause, but I do still hold out some hope for mine."

"Home," Alec agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> with thanks to [maleccrazedauthor](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ACGormley/pseuds/maleccrazedauthor) for a spectacular beta <3


End file.
